Sri Lanka
The data presented is a selection of current statistical information available from existing sources. The Hub will both generate new data and publish reports and analysis based on the Women’s Rights After War’s work in Sri Lanka.
| Law | Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Article 12 (4) (2016) | Constitutional reform | Allows for special legal provisions to be made for the advancement and protection of disadvantaged groups. |
| Provincial Councils Elections (Amendment) Act, No. 17 (2017) | Legislative | In the provincial elections, for the nomination of candidates, 50 percent of the PR nomination list and one-sixth of FPTP candidates should be women (legislative candidate quota). A minimum of 25 percent of seats are allocated for women in each council. Seats will be allocated to women if the number of women elected through the FPTP and PR lists is under 25 percent despite the nomination quotas (reserved seats). However, if the provincial councils are unable to meet this threshold, they are not deemed unlawful and they can still be formed. |
| Women’s Charter (2017) | Legislative | Declares to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the Public and Private Sectors, in the political and public life of the country. |
| Law | Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Penal Code no 13, 22 (1995) | Legislative | Criminalises rape and provides for 7-20 years of imprisonment with a fine and for compensation to the victim. The term increases to 10-20 years with a fine if the person: was a public officer or person in a position of authority and takes advantage of his official position; was on the management, or on the staff of a remand home or other place of custody, established by or under law, or of a women’s or children’s institution, takes advantage of his position; being on the management or staff of a hospital, takes advantage of his position and commits rape on a woman; commits rape on a woman knowing her to be pregnant, or under 18 years of age, or mentally or physically disabled, or participates in gang rape. However, it only criminalises rape between man and woman who were married if they are judicially separated. |
| Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (2005) | Legislative | Act recognises domestic violence as a human rights violation. However, it has some provisions such as Article 12(1), whereby women are mandated under a court order to undergo marriage counselling in cases of domestic violence; as well as the inability of the courts to ensure “physical protection” of the victims through interim orders. |
| The Victim and Witness Protection Act (2015) | Legislative | The Act gives effect to appropriate international norms, standards and best practices relating to the protection of victims of crime and witnesses by setting out rights and entitlements of those victims, as well as their protection and promotion. While of general scope, this Act can be specifically relevant for any transitional justice mechanism that may be established in Sri Lanka. |
| Law | Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Marriage Registration Ordinance (1907) | Legislative | Constitutes the general law of marriage between Tamils and between individuals from different ethnic and religious communities. Kandyan Sinhalese people can choose to be governed by this or by their customary law. Muslim marriages are through the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act. Minimum age of marriage of both men and women is 18. However, with parental consent, the marriage of a minor is allowed. The Ordinance also provides grounds for divorce as: adultery, malicious desertion, and incurable impotence at time of marriage. Cruelty or abuse are not grounds for divorce but for legal separation. |
| Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (1951) | Legislative | Though there are some general rules to govern Muslim marriages, many are left for each sect to decide on their own. There is no minimum age for marriage within the law. If it is the marriage of a girl below the age of 12, requires consent of a Qazi (Islamic legal officer). For the Shafi sect, women are required to get consent from a guardian to get married. Polygamy is permitted. Divorce laws do not equally apply to women and men and varies from sect to sect. Maintenance is solely to the discretion of the Qazi. Three situations for women to claim maintenance after divorce: Until registration of the divorce; during the period of time a divorced woman remains unmarried ); and if woman is pregnant at the time of registration of the divorce, until she delivers the child. |
| Kandyan Marriage and Divorce Act (1952) | Legislative | Governs marriage laws between Kandyan Sinhalese people only based on customary law. Marriages can be either diga (patriarchal) or binna (matriarchal). Divorce is allowed on the grounds of adultery by the wife; adultery by the husband, coupled with incest or gross cruelty; continued and complete desertion for two years; inability to live together, of which actual separation from bed and board for one year is the test; and mutual consent. It also provides for the maintenance the man has to pay to the woman in the case of divorce. |
| Maintenance and Support Laws (1999) | Legislative | The act requires any spouse with sufficient means to maintain the other spouse, if such individual is unable to maintain him or herself. Does not apply if one of them is in adultery or consensual separation. |
| Law | Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Matrimonial Rights and Inheritance Ordinance (Jaffna), Ordinance No. 1 (1911) | Legislative | Applies only to the Tamil community who fall under the customary Tesawalamai law. Restricts a married woman from disposing of and dealing with her own immovable property, such as land, without the written consent or her husband/guardian. |
| Land Development Ordinance, Schedule 3 (1935) | Legislative | Prescribes order of inheritance giving precedence to male heirs over female heirs when the owner dies. If a man remarries, the first wife loses her claim to the land they shared earlier. |
| Maternity Benefits Ordinance (1939) | Constitutional Reform | Provides women workers with maternity benefits of up to twelve weeks of paid leave. Requires employers of more than a specified number of women workers to provide childcare facilities for children under five years old and authorizes the promulgation of regulations regarding those facilities. Also makes provision for nursing intervals for nursing mothers who have returned to their employment. |
| Factories Ordinance (1950) | Legislative | Establishes women’s safety and health in the workplace. Provides work hours for women and young people between 9 and 48 in a week. Provides for breaks during the workday and for overtime. Restricts overtime for pregnant women. |
| Law | Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (Ratified in 1981) | Legislative | An international treaty to promote and monitor women’s rights and their equality to men. |
| National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights (2011) | Legislative | Response to the recommendations of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action at the World Conference on Human Rights. |
| National Action Plan to address Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) (2016) | Legislative | Brought forward the extradition jurisdiction. And charted out a comprehensive definition of the trafficking. |
| Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1994) | Legislative | Contains declarations on sexual violence and abuse against women and children |
| Type of mechanism | Mechanism | Policies/Laws |
|---|---|---|
| Institutional Reform | Legislative | Change in the electoral system from single list proportional system to a mixed system of First-Past-the-Post and proportional representation. A women’s quota of 25% was introduced for local ward elections. There was a regime change in 2015 and promises to find a solution to the ethnic conflict and address conflict related concerns were made. |
| Criminal Justice Reform | Legislative | The Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction implemented an Interim Relief Program (IRP) that provided some benefits for certain victims of human rights violations, but there was still no acknowledgment of government responsibility. The IRP also excluded certain categories of victims, such as those who endured sexual violence. Criminal courts in Nepal have heard very few cases related to conflict violations. |
| Truth-Memory-Reconciliation | Legislative | 1) The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission was the locally appointed committee in May 2010 and was mandated with looking at the period from February 2002 ceasefire with the LTTE till the end of the conflict in May 2009 and make recommendations aimed at ethnic reconciliation. 2) Presidential Commission inquiring into Missing Persons was appointed in 2013 but was not thorough and was considered one-sided. 3) The Office of Missing Persons was set up in 2018 under the Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration and Discharge of Functions) Act No. 14 of 2016 , with delayed progress and logistical difficulties. 4) The Office for National Unity and Reconciliation was set up after the government change in 2015. Projects on livelihoods generation for war affected families and other project-based, donor funded reconciliation efforts were taken up 5) A Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanism was appointed in February 2016. |
| Reparations | Legislative | The Office for Reparations act was passed in parliament in October 2018 and commissioners were elected in April 2019. The office was entrusted with the responsibility to identify aggrieved victims qualified for reparation and provide appropriate compensation individually or collectively to them. A budget allocation of Rs. 700 million was made in 2019 for the office. |
